Where can I find the first standardization of SQL, SQL-86?

Question

This question is different but similar to this request looking for SQL-89.

The first draft of SQL is labeled SQL-86. Numerous references are made to it. Is this available to download? Wikipedia doesn't even have a page for it. I'm interested in it for historical reasons.

It seems to also be called

• ANSI X3.135-1986
• CAN/CSA Z243.47-88
• ISO 9075:1987
• SQL/1
• NBS FIPS 127

The spec is cited in documents from the period as coming from ANSI Technical Committee X3H2.

I know there is webstore.ansi.org, but I can not find the X3.135-1986 document. I can however find X3.168-1989 spec which is available under X3.135-1992 Searching for both X3.168, and X3.135 do not permit me to buy the 1986 spec.

Answer 1

HTML SQL-86 Google Groups

I found some references about an HTML version of SQL-86.

The new URL for the HTML translation of SQL-86 is:

     http://speckle.ncsl.nist.gov/~sql/

The reason for this move is that I am taking a job in another lab and I had to get it off of my PC hard drive.

DWF

Unfortunately this link is broken, but I believe the OP is still working at NIST >as a Computer Scientist.

I've sent him a request via LinkedIN, and now I'm waiting for a reply.

The answer:

To Joan and others interested in SQL-86,

The 'HTML version' was a demonstration project that was never completed. Your best bet is to try to obtain the ANSI specification through interlibrary loan.

V/R, — David Flater National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S.A.

comp.databases Newsgroup Posting

I've found new references dated 12 Oct 89 about ANSI X3.135-1986: it's from newsgroup comp.databases where someone else was interested on this document. There is a response by Merrill Holt to the initial inquiry. Merrill Holt claims to be "a member of the X3H2 SQL and X3H2.1 RDA committees.", that seems likely as they're writing from a Sybase email address. He/she says,

The ANSI and ISO documents are identical (ISO 9075:1987 == ANSI X3.135-1986 and ISO 9075:1989 == ANSI X3.135-1989). All of these standards are known informally as SQL 1 as compared to future drafts which are referred to as SQL 2 and 3.

SQL 1   SQL 86  ANSI X3.135-1986   ISO 9075:1987 
        - level 1 DML & DDL 
        - level 2 DML & DDL 
        SQL 89  ANSI X3.135-1989   ISO 9075:1989 
        - level 1 DML & DDL 
        - level 2 DML & DDL 
        - IEF - new for 89

The answer points out to this company that may have the document:

Global Engineering 
2805 McGaw Ave 
Irvine, CA 92714

It turns out ISO does mention ISO 9075:1987 however they have it listed as obsolete and retired and are not currently selling it.

US Army Corps of Engineers

And I've found one available exemplar at:

US Army Corps of Engineers
Engineer Research and Development Center Library
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS.
[email protected]

_{I'm not sure this is the original book covers.}

Linda Hall Library

I've found one exemplar at Linda Hall Library

Other potential names

It seems some sources references this as ISO/TC 97/SC21/WG3 N117. However, I'm not sure how to read this or if this designation refers to the document or not. This source helps break down the acronyms.

• TC refers to "Technical Committee"
• SC refers to "Sub Committee"; 21 is Systems
• WG is usually working group.
• N117 may be a document or something published like a SQL spec.

Answer 2

The Standard

The standard is available as FIPS 127 and hosted on the Internet Archive (archive.org)

---

This link was given to me by a member of the Houston Linux Users Group.

Answer 3

I reached out to them

Hello Evan,

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, we do not sell or offer the 1986 version of the SQL standard (ANSI X3.135-1986) for historical reasons. In general, we offer few historical documents, as the revisions mark important changes. However, as your research into the subject has indicated, you can buy some later versions, as well as the current ISO/IEC 9075-1:2016 document on our store.

Sorry, please let us know if you have any other questions.

I wrote again to them asking if they could offer it for free for historical and educational purposes (because they're not selling it). They actually responded to that too,

Sorry, but we don't have that standard at all. ANSI X3.135-1986 was published in print, which we haven't offered for years now. The document isn't even in our database.

However, it might be useful to contact ISO/IEC JTC 1, the joint technical committee responsible for the publication of the newest edition of the standard. You can reach the ISO Editorial Program Manager here:

Being unable to find a copy and having ANSI unwilling to sell a copy, it seems that SQL-86 is lost in the age of the internet.

Answer 4

While searching the internet for same document I came across the BSI (British Standards Institution)

They have the following document for purchase as a PDF file:

https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000010554255

DD 152:1986
Database language SQL (ISO/DIS 9075)

The overview describes the document as:

Scheme definition language for declaring structures and integrity constraints of an SQL database; a module language on data manipulation language for declaring the procedures and executable statements of specific database application. Two levels.

The product details page list the following attributes:

Standard Number             DD 152:1986  
Title                       Database language SQL (ISO/DIS 9075)  
Status                      Superseded, Withdrawn  
Publication Date            30 September 1986  
Withdrawn Date              29 January 1988  
Normative References(Required to achieve compliance to this standard)     No other standards are normatively referenced  
Informative References(Provided for Information)      No other standards are informatively referenced  
Replaced By                 BS 6964:1988, ISO 9075:1987  
Descriptors                 Data bases, Data handling, Data processing, High-level languages, Programming languages, Syntax, Data organization  
ICS                         35.060  
Title in French             Langage de base de données relationnel  
Title in German             Datenbanksprache SQL  
Committee                   ICT/1  
ISBN                        0 580 15410 6  
Publisher                   BSI  
Format                      A4  
Delivery                    No  
File Size                   0 KB  
Price                       £240.00  

After sending an e-mail they wrote back that the document would be available for purchase via telephone. After accepting a credit card the PDF would be sent to the recipient's e-mail address.

Thank you for your email in regards to the withdrawn standard.

The Standard DD 152 1986, is also available for purchase.

The non-members price is £240.

Please call us as instructed, and we an take payment for this order and send you the standard.

The naming convention seems to correlate with the ISO name found by McNets, so you might want to have a look.

Important Update

After asking BSI for clarification on my enquiry via e-mail:

The initial paper was/is titled "SQL-86" and was/is known under the following titles/reference numbers:

• ANSI X3.135-1986
• CAN/CSA Z243.47-88
• ISO 9075:1987
• SQL/1
• NBS FIPS 127

The original committee that drafted the paper was the "ANSI Technical Committee X3H2".

The link in your e-mail is pointing to the standard DD 152:1986

What I would like to know: Is this the same standard that I am looking for? Is the BSI standard DD 152:1986 the same as the ISO 9075:1987 standard?

I received the following feedback:

The standard you are referring to is ISO 9075:1987 which is identical to BS 6964:1988 - https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail?pid=000000000010609544

DD 152:1986 was the previous version.

The below three standards were the first ones to come out, all in 1986:
DD 151:1986
DD 152:1986
ANSI X 3.133

So it looks like the BSI has your requested standard ISO 9075:1987 available for purchase as a PDF for a slightly lower price.

The following snippet of information was provided to me by the BSI customer service:

The overview describes the document as:

Schema definition language for declaring structures and integrity constraints of an SQL database; a module language and a data manipulation language for declaring the procedures and executable statements of specific database application. Two levels.

The product details page list the following attributes:

Standard Number             BS 6964:1988, ISO 9075:1987
Title                       Specification for database language SQL
Status                      Revised, Superseded, Withdrawn
Publication Date            29 January 1988
Withdrawn Date              31 July 1990
Normative References(Required to achieve compliance to this standard) No other standards are normatively referenced
Informative References(Provided for Information)  No other standards are informatively referenced
Replaced By                 BS 6964:1990, ISO/IEC 9075:1989
Replaces                    DD 152:1986
Descriptors                 Database languages, Syntax, Programming languages, High-level languages, Data processing, Data handling, Databases, Data organization, Semantics
ICS                         35.060
Title in French             Langage SQL (langage structuré d'interrogation) pour base de données. Spécifications
Title in German             Datenbanksprache SQL
Committee                   ICT/1
ISBN                        0 580 16437 3
Publisher                   BSI
Format                      A4
Delivery                    No
File Size                   0 KB
Price                       £182.00

Conclusion

What I find pretty interesting is the fact that my initial research resulted in finding a standard/document (well actually three) that existed before SQL-86.